Japan Journal - 16th June

Yesterday was my last Sunday at Fukuinkan.
I went to both services for the first time, one straight after the other. I ended at the church in the same way I began. I arrived late for the service, only just in time to give my testimony. I thought the service started at 9:30am when it began at 9:00am. Good job I got there at twenty past or I would have missed my bit completely. Certainly had a few people worried but all turned out well in the end. It did mean I had no time to get nervous about speaking, although it was certainly on my mind the days before. Some things never change, no matter how many times you do them.
It seemed to go well and the translator was brilliant. We quickly got into a rhythm so that I could focus on the words and actually looking at people while I was speaking. The great thing was they were looking back! I thought it would be scary because it's a big church and not my home church but it really wasn't. As I looked around I saw so many people I had a genuine love for. So many people that really feel like brothers and sisters. I will be sad to leave them.

The testimony was short and simple, due to restrictions of translation. I think I'll quote myself!

'I grew up knowing that I did many, many things wrong and that I deserved to be punished. I was scared of going to hell but I knew that I would never be good enough for heaven. I remember regularly praying to God to forgive me but doubting whether he had or not. I was still terrified. One day I thought about why God might forgive me. I knew that Jesus had died on a cross and was punished for sinners. People just like me. I knew that he promised to forgive those who asked him. I’d asked him. I realised that if I was genuinely sorry then he had to forgive me. He couldn’t break his promises. For the first time in a long time I wasn’t afraid.'

I could easily have written so many different things because God has done so many things in my life and has dramatically changed my life several times. For so long I lived knowing I was forgiven but not really knowing God. Then I realised that I could have a relationship with him and that I was missing out on the real meaning of eternal life, knowing Jesus Christ and the one who sent him (John 17.3). Then I learned that it wasn't enough just to keep my faith to myself but that being a Christian is about belonging to a family and telling others about all that Jesus has done for them.
I trust that God will continue to open my eyes to him and continually change me throughout my life. This trip has certainly helped me to understand just how big God's family really is. It's great that I can be thousands of miles from home, with people of a completely different culture and still to be loved by them and love them in return. The love that God pours out on his children is a powerful, tangible thing.

A week and a half to go where my mission is simple. Try to get all my non-Christian contacts in touch with other Christians so that the relationships can be continued. Leaving parties are perfect for that.